Landscaping can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. With these creative and affordable ideas, you can transform your outdoor space without breaking the bank.
46 Budget-Friendly Ways Thrifty People Landscape
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1. Start With A Flexible Plan
You need to know where you want flowers, shrubs, and grass. Do you want garden paths? If so, where? Will you use raised planters or edging to define your garden space? Do you want a patio space? How big? What do you feel comfortable DIY-ing and what do you want to leave to the professionals?
Do you want to add a water feature as a focal point? Are you planning to add a hot tub? Or a kiddie pool?
How about lighting? Do you want string lights? How about solar lights?
The key to thrifty planning is being flexible. For example, you might plan a concrete patio, but find inexpensive pavers on Facebook Marketplace that will cost way less. This allows you to afford pots full of succulents to place around the patio to add a more homey feel.
Flexibility is vital to stretching your landscaping dollars.
2. Know Your Zone
If you plant your plants at the wrong time or those made for arid environments when you live in a humid one, your plants are less likely to survive. To figure this out, you need to know the planting zone number for where you live. It is easy to find with a quick online search or by asking your gardening friends.
3. Ask Your Gardening Friends For Advice
Not only will your gardening friends know the planting zone you are in, but they will also know which plants thrive in the shade or full sun.
If you take them to the plant nursery, they will also help you avoid buying plants that won’t grow well in your area and show you which ones will.
They are also usually more than eager to share plants when they divide them.
4. DIY All You Can
Many people are intimidated by DIY landscaping projects. However, if you don’t get them right the first time, most outside projects are easier and less expensive to redo. Backyard projects are a great place to gain experience, unlike front yard landscaping projects: not as many eyeballs see them.
5. If You Don’t Know How–Learn How For Free
If you don’t know how to do something, consult the internet for help. YouTube is a great place to start.
6. Use Family & Friend Labor
My husband did most of the work on our yard with help from our children, a few friends, and his dad.
7. Borrow What You Can
If you need a tool for a project and know you won’t use it again–ask a friend, neighbor, or family member if they have one you could borrow. Copy and paste a text asking if they have that tool over and over instead of creating a mass text that no one wants to be a part of.
You can also try doing a Facebook shout-out. Ask friends via a status update or story update if they have one you can borrow. When I do this, I start the ask with WANTED: bold text grabs people’s attention.
8. See If You Can Rent What You Can’t Borrow
If you can’t borrow the item, see if renting it is cost-effective. Usually, this only works for larger power tools (like a jackhammer) to break up an old concrete pad.
9. Use What You Have
When we first landscaped our yard, we worked around thriving plants the previous owner had planted. We used a birdbath from a previous home. My husband used leftover fence panels to skirt the bottom of our shed.
What you have is free! And it turns clutter into something beautiful.
10. Search Online For Free Items
There isn’t a more cost-effective way to landscape than using items that cost nothing. After you have reused and repurposed, you can turn to the internet for more free items. Try Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, your local Buy Nothing groups on Facebook, and the Freecycle website.
11. Use Your Connections
Do you know a farmer? Ask him if his field has any small boulders you can haul away for free and use in a low-maintenance rock garden.
12. Do A Social Media Shout Out
When you see people prepping their flower gardens, it is time to get on Facebook and create a status update that says, “I need a few plants for my garden; anyone got any they are getting rid of?” When I have done this it has gotten one or two offers of free plants as long as I come over when they are overhauling their flower beds to pick them up.
13. Scroll Your Feed
I was on Facebook one day and saw that a friend had a load of mulch available for 50% off; all we had to do was pick it up. I messaged her right away and the mulch was ours. Now it provides a bit of variety from the rock placed around all the other areas of the yard.
14. Text Your Green Thumb Friends
Even if your green thumb friends are on Facebook and you have done a shout-out for free plants, still take the time to text them personally–chances are many of them didn’t see your status update.
15. Drive Around
My husband noticed a local crew demolishing an old brick building near us. He asked a worker what was happening to the bricks. When he heard they were getting carted away to the landfill, my husband asked if it was okay if he took some. The worker checked with his foreman and reported to my husband that it was fine. We got enough brick to outline several flower beds.
16. Make Rocks Your Friends
We used more pea gravel than mulch in our backyard landscaping for two reasons; one: it is much cheaper and two: the neighborhood cats don’t like it, whereas they love pooping in mulched areas. It kills two birds with one stone (ha! pardon the pun).
17. Get Creative With Upcycling
Things like old tires and wooden pallets can be turned into beautiful additions to your yard with creativity.
18. Turn To Pinterest For Help
If you can’t picture that old wheelbarrow as a giant flower pot that fits into your cottage garden design, turn to Pinterest and search “DIY wheelbarrow to planter.”
19. Walk Around The Neighborhood
A walk around the neighborhood is a great way to find low-cost landscaping ideas and discover what plants thrive in your area. When you see a plant doing exceptionally well, if the homeowner is around, ask them what the name is. It is a great conversation starter for making friends in your area. If no one is around, snap a picture and use Google Lens to find out what it is.
20. Start From Seed
Flower seeds (this one has 36 varieties of flowers) are way cheaper than seedlings. Grass seeds are cheaper than turf.
21. Make Reusing Bulbs Easy
If you live in a cold climate where bulbs die over winter, plant them in planters and bring them into a garage or basement in fall. There is a bit more to this method so research it before trying.
22. Consider Xeriscaping
Xeriscaping is an excellent low-maintenance, low-cost upkeep idea, especially for those who live in dry climates.
23. Use Self-Seeding Plants
Self-seeding plants are great at taking over large areas. A few types are Zinnias, Poppies, and Bachelor Buttons.
24. Consider Compositing
Installing a compost bin in your yard will save you money on fertilizer to replace nutrients lost in soil over time. Not only can you add certain food scraps, but you can also add grass clippings and leaves to your compost.
25. Plant Easy To Grow Perennials
Perennials save money since, unlike annuals, they grow for years.
26. Add a Rain Barrel
This simple DIY project will help you save money on watering costs. If you’d rather buy one, here is one with good reviews.
27. Request Plants Or Outdoor Decor As Gifts
Avoid more clutter in the house by asking for plants and outdoor decor gifts like fire pits and fountains as gifts.
28. Plant Native Species
Native plants make excellent choices as hardy perennials that will return year after year. Research according to your zone.
29. Plant Perennials That Are Easy To Propagate
Once again, make sure these plants grow well in your zone, but here are a few examples of perennials that are easy to propagate: lavender, cone flowers, and daylilies.
30. Shop Local Plant Sales
Not only are local plant sales great places to pick up plants for cheap, but the people selling are usually master gardeners full of cheap landscaping ideas that work.
31. Shop Farmers Markets
Spring farmers markets often have sellers of perennial and annual plants. You also may find a local carpenter selling that raised garden bed you wanted for your veggies. Their prices might not be the cheapest, but chances are their products are higher quality than cheaper mass-produced ones, making it cheaper over time.
32. Shop Yard Sales
People often sell leftover DIY landscaping project materials at their yard sales. I have seen rolls of landscape fabric, pavers for walkways, and much more.
Our rose trellis cost $2 at a yard sale and the lawn edging around one of the flower beds was also purchased at a yard sale. When they were little, several parts of my children’s play sets were found at yard sales.
33. Shop Thrift Stores
Thrift stores are great places to find lawn art pieces, outdoor furniture, and whimsical moisture-proof signs to add to your fence.
34. Shop Facebook Marketplace
If it wasn’t for a Facebook Marketplace find of a lifetime, our backyard deck would be a quarter of the size it is now. My husband is a chronic Marketplace scroller and it paid off big time when he found someone selling decking lumber for a fraction of what it costs new.
The homeowner had not gotten permits for his deck project and the city council found out. After months of paperwork, the city did not approve his deck plans so he listed the supplies on Facebook Marketplace. This leads me to share an essential bonus tip: always get permits for hardscaping, such as decks.
35. Shop End Of Season Sales
I can think of only one plant in our yard that was bought at full price. The rest were bought in late September at 50 to 75 percent off. As long as they have a week or two in the soil frost-free, they survive through the winter and flourish the following spring.
36. Buy In Bulk
My husband figured out it would be cheaper to buy our fencing by the plank than to buy pre-made panels. He also discovered that he would save even more if he bought a certain number of planks. He used the extra planks to make the roofing and walls for our children’s childhood playhouse.
37. Check Dollar Stores
Our Dollar Tree sells solar lanterns that work great. They also sell gardening gloves that are handy for pulling thorny weeds.
38. Check Discount Warehouse Type Stores
Our town has a store that sells mainly overstock items from big box stores for deeply discounted prices. It is where I have purchased numerous planters. I have also seen them stock gardening tools and outdoor furniture.
39. Check Membership Stores
We have a membership to Sam’s Club, and every spring, they stock gardening items and outdoor furniture items. Their prices are lower than those of many other big box stores.
40. Earn Gift Cards Doing Things You Already Do
Swagbucks is a point rewards program that will give you points for shopping online, searching online, submitting grocery receipts, and more. You can then cash in those points for a PayPal deposit or gift cards to places that sell gardening items like Amazon, Target, Walmart, Sam’s Club, and The Home Depot
Go here to sign up for Swagbucks and start earning.
Are you already a member of Swagbucks? Here is a list of similar programs that can help you earn even more gift cards.
41. Buy Gift Cards At A Discount
MyGiftCardsPlus offers discounted gift cards with a twist; instead of seeing the savings in cash, you see it in points deposited into your Swagbucks account. Yet one more reason to join Swagbucks.
42. Download This Browser Extensions For Cash Back
Rakuten has a simple-to-use cash back browser tool that can save you money. For example, you are looking at the perfect hanging vertical garden planter on your laptop at an online store to make your idea for a living fence come to life.
To see if Rakuten could save you money in the form of a cash back on the site, click the R icon at the top of your browser and if Rakuten offers one, it will automatically start the process of applying it.
Psst…Swagbucks also offers this, which is another reason why I love Swagbucks.
43. Look For Discount Codes
One more way to save on online purchases is to use discount codes. A discount code differs from a cash back in that you save money immediately. Swagbucks offers these, too, but not as many as the Capital One Shopping Tool does.
44. Encourage Yard-Friendly Wildlife
By considering DIY landscaping ideas that encourage birds, bees, butterflies, squirrels, insects, and other garden-friendly critters to your garden, you create an oasis for them and you. There is something peaceful and rewarding about watching a butterfly fly from bloom to bloom or seeing a new bird species in your bird feeder.
Tranquility leads to contentment, and contentment always results in spending less money.
45. Keep Things Simple
Too much of a good thing can ruin curb appeal. Leave room for people’s eyes to rest.
46. Do It In Stages
Your yard doesn’t have to and won’t become something seen on a flyer for a landscape designer within a week or even one growing season.
Whenever I read articles about fantastic gardens, I am always surprised at how long the homeowners have worked to make them look great–it takes years!
I am always looking for more tips on being thrifty in our landscaping. Do you have any to share?
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I love the idea of buying Lowe’s gift cards at a discount. You can also get a Lowe’s 10% off total purchase coupon to use with the gift card, if you pick up a change of address form from the post office (free in the packet). It would be good to use if you had a big project to do.
Thanks for all the great ideas you always have – I love your blog! ☺
Great tip! I am so glad you like the blog.
Great! We shared this with our readers at homesteadlady.com.
Thanks for some great ideas. I also use facebook to give/get free perenials. I also shop the end of season sales at the local nursery. Your flower beds look great 🙂
Love these ideas! A few friends of mine are part of a local Facebook group where they chat about gardening and do free plant/seedling exchanges. What a great way to connect and landscape thriftily (sp?).
Sounds great! I have a brown thumb so I rely on my green thumb friends to help me keep my plants alive and thriving and to provide me with new ones from their bountiful gardens when I am not successful which is often.
Great tips!
My husband calls it “Living off the fat of the land”. He was able to put a beautiful rock boarder on both sides of our 90′ driveway, make a retaining wall and steps all from rocks that were being displaced from road work. He killed himself making probably 50 trips collecting the rocks, but it came out amazing!
Love the idea with the free rock! We need to build a retaining wall up our driveway eventually and have been trying to figure out how to do it inexpensively. Now that I think of it I think I might know one source of free rock that just might be large enough.
Great tips, especially as so many of us are starting to wrap up this year’s gardening season and looking towards next years.
Thanks for linking up at Fabulously Frugal Thursday!
Layers of newspaper work as well as landscape fabric for keeping weeds or grass from growing amid mulch. Also, many perennials (hostas, iris, day lilies, etc.) expand/multiply on their own. If you’re patient and willing to split up such plants every few years, you can do a lot with just a few original plants.
As over simplified as it sounds, one of my favorite ways to simplify is by sticking to planting hardy perennials and plants that require very little in the way of maintenance (like berry bushes). It reduces the amount of time and money I will have to invest in the future taking care of or replacing things! 🙂